Zip Go the Zippers!
Many things keep me awake at night. How can Taco Bell have 300 items on the menu all made from beans, meat, cheese and tortillas? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does one sock from each pair disappear when I do laundry? What is the meaning of life? Why does my cat stand on the hardwood floor while it throws up on the carpet? If the universe began with a singularity about 14 billion years ago, how does that account for the homogeneous temperature measured throughout the universe without exceeding the speed of light?
But what keeps me awake the most, tossing and turning, is what the heck is a Zip and why is it a kangaroo? Akron was once the Zippers, named after a popular shoe from the 1920’s and the infamous zipper that has graced numerous pants and sweatshirts. Whitcomb Judson invented the zipper, based on a device from Elias Howe’s sewing machine. The term zipper came from the B.F. Goodrich Company who used the fastener for the rubber boots they made in the 20’s and 30’s. Thus, the Akron connection as the Goodrich Corporation was founded in Akron in 1870…known as Goodrich, Tew & Co. back then.
In 1950 University of Akron athletic director Kenneth Cochrane officially shortened the name to the Zips. That almost answers what a Zip is. So why the Kangaroo? Easy answer…why not? Shortly after the name was changed to the Zips, the school decided it needed a mascot…possibly a cute and fuzzy one that kids could spend money on to get in stuffed animal form. “Zippy” officially become the mascot on May 1, 1953. I’m sure it was a great ceremony.
However, Zippy did not come into the world without controversy. There was no campus vote. One day there was just a kangaroo named Zippy…although he actually started as Mr. Zip. In 1965 the name Zippy started showing up and somewhere in there he became a she too. The school went with the argument that, according to the official Akron athletics site, “the kangaroo is fast, agile and powerful with undying determination – all necessary qualities of an athlete.” That would describe most existing animals, otherwise they would no longer exist. At least the kangaroo is cuter than the fast, agile and powerful warthog.
Read the in-depth men’s basketball preview for this team
